


it's you and me

by jswoon2



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Not Hockey Player(s), Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Demon Summoning, M/M, Originally Posted on Tumblr, Supernatural Elements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-28
Updated: 2018-04-28
Packaged: 2019-04-29 03:27:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14463984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jswoon2/pseuds/jswoon2
Summary: Sidney isn’t above admitting that it’s his fault that there’s a demon in their kitchen.





	it's you and me

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on tumblr (@sinkpages).
> 
> Kudos and comments are lovely!

**ONE ⟴**

Sidney isn’t above admitting that it’s his fault that there’s a demon in their kitchen.

To be fair, he didn’t think it’d actually work and yet here he and Tanger are, staring at a tall man with demon horns and bright yellow eyes standing on top of a crudely drawn summoning circle made from salt. Sid meant to prove a point that demons don’t exist. This was not expected.

“What this?” the demon says, waving his hands in exasperation. “Me and mama about to see if Natasha finally give Dmitri her soul for eternal beauty but I’m summoned here. What give?”

Sid takes in how the demon is wearing faded jeans — or sweatpants — sweatjeans? He isn’t really sure. The shirt he’s wearing is obviously made for tourists reading  _ Kiss Me I’m Russian _ is the icing on the confusion cake. This guy could easily be just another regular person if not for the obvious horns and yellow eyes.

Realizing they’re not a threat, the demon’s eyes turn brown. Humanlike.

“Well?” the demon asks when neither Sid nor Tanger have offered a response.

Tanger elbows Sid hard in the ribs. “Give the man an answer.”

Of course the best Sid can come up with on short notice is, “I didn’t think you were real.” Which, seems like a rude thing to say only Sid is telling the truth. Demons aren’t  _ supposed _ to be real.

Luckily, the demon doesn’t seem to take much offense to that. He shrugs, drawing attention to just how big he is. A broad shouldered, easily a seven feet tall guy. “I’m real,” he replies simply. Observing Tanger and Sid’s dorm room, his nose crinkles. “Now I’m here, you have any wishes? Heart’s desires?”

“Like a genie?” Tanger asks, sounding slightly fascinated.

The demon shakes his head. “Genies not real.” Sid holds back the, “ _ Are you sure _ ?” that’s sitting on the tip of his tongue. The large demon continues, “I’m not need souls. Maybe blood of innocent or animal sacrifice. I’m not ask for much like other demons.”

“Uh, no thanks. I think we have everything we need. No morning classes, minimal college debt, and all the ramen packets we need to survive our first year of college. We’re good,” Tanger says, followed by an awkward laugh.

Sid certainly doesn’t want to sacrifice their illegal dorm hamster or spill any innocent’s blood and yet. Yet, he’s kind of mesmerized by the demon’s voice and his lazy expression. Sid could use things. Lots of things. Some new gym shorts, a few extra hours in the day to sleep or study, or maybe a new laptop. A Penguins Stanley Cup win. But he isn’t going to ask for any of it.

“You desire wish?” the demon asks. His tongue pokes out from his mouth long enough to drag over his bottom lip. It looks normal on first glance but the harder Sid stares, the more he realizes that the image of the demon in front of them is nothing but a glamor. 

“No,” Sid replies. “No thanks,” he repeats, trying to sound more sure of himself.

The demon shrugs, seeming not to care. Their bedroom lights flicker on and off dramatically and with the puff of smoke, the demon is gone.

Tanger looks at the carpet where they had drawn the circle, his mouth dropped. “That just happened.”

“And you thought going out with your girlfriend would’ve been a more interesting evening,” Sid jokes lightheartedly. Tanger grimaces. “Take me with you next time?”

“Only if you leave the demon home.”

“Fair enough. Deal.”

 

*

 

The demon ends up coming back though and not because Sid summoned him this time. He just shows up on his own. Still dressed casually but with a button down shirt and track pants. It shouldn’t work as an outfit, not that anyone cares. A student could show up to class in a bathrobe and half the class would be jealous that they didn’t think of it first.

Sid does not engage with the demon.

In fact, he has witnesses — his classmates — that the demon made contact with him first. They just don’t know about the demon part of the situation.

“Maybe instant degree is heart’s desire,” the demon wonders out loud as he observes Sidney blatantly in the library. He’s been doing this for the past hour. All the muttering is beginning to drive Sid crazy.

“No,” the demon corrects himself, “work too hard to cheat. Money maybe, for nicer ramen packets.” He nods to himself calmly.

Sid grits his teeth and tries to make the voice in his head read his textbook louder. He gets to the end of outlining his chapter where a set of practice questions are. They weren’t assigned as homework, most classes in college don’t even have formal homework, but Sid always feels more comfortable knowing the material if he does them.

He lightly circles the answers with his pencil when the eyes watching him gets closer.

Much too relaxed, the demon sits with one arm around the back of Sid’s chair and his chin resting on Sid’s shoulder to read along in his textbook with him. To an outsider, they probably look like a couple or at least friends. The demon has been patiently waiting the two hours Sid has been doing his homework.

They probably look like they know each other. Like, actually, though. Not in an accidentally  _ summoned this demon in my bedroom the other day _ kind of know each other.

“Can I help you?” Sid asks.

The demon drags his finger down the page, his lips pursed. “Number 2 is C, not E.”

“What?”

“Motor learning different from motor control, so answer is C,” the demon explains. “Check answers if you don’t believe me.”

Sid furrows his brows in confusion but does so anyway. He ignores the fact that the demon is giving him homework help by instead focusing on how the demon is correcting him.

Annoyingly, the answer is C.

“I don’t need anymore help,” Sid says firmly.

The demon shrugs, sitting back in his chair. He keeps his arm laid across the back of Sid’s chair even still.

 

*

 

“Do you have a name?” Sid asks eventually. Most demons in movies seem to, only humans can’t know their real name or else they can be exorcised. While Sid certainly doesn’t have the ability to do that, he wants a better way of referring to the demon than simply the demon.

Carefully thinking about Sid’s question, he at first shrugs off the question. “My real name too hard to say for your kind. Humans call me Evgeni.”

“Evgeni,” Sid repeats.

Evgeni nods.

“How old are you?” Sid then asks. 

“So  _ old _ . I’m always tired. Even more than college students,” Evgeni replies with a laugh.

With just enough glamor the rest of the students see nothing wrong with Sid interacting with Evgeni. Sid imagines that Evgeni’s glamored form is still quite large but Sid has learned how to see through it. In three days, he’s grown used to his yellow eyes and big horns. He’s unsure if he just as an supernatural talent for seeing through the glamor or Evgeni is granting him permission.

Although, permission would imply that they’re friends.

Sidney isn’t sure if they’re friends.

“You could sleep more if you spent less time coming to class with me,” Sid suggests. Evgeni stays silent, which Sid doesn’t understand. “What do you want with me?”

Evgeni picks a cheese fry off of Sid’s plate, an acquired taste since he’s been hanging around humans so much lately. “Maybe I’m just find you interesting.”

Sid doesn’t ask why. He kind of wants to figure that out for himself.

 

**TWO ⟴**

Sid wakes up with a black box sitting on his dresser. He doesn’t know where it came from, doesn’t know who put it in his room. He definitely knows that it isn’t his and that it’s firmly locked by a key that’s missing. There’s beautiful Cyrillic engraved all around it and when he picks it up, he surmises that it’s just big enough to fit jewelry in it.

He doesn’t think there’s jewelry inside.

Evgeni later confirms his suspicions.

“Is  delicate, but don’t open it,” Evgeni says, stealing Sid’s tofu right off of the cutting board where Sid left it. The tofu is for the soup he’s making for the both of them although Evgeni told Sid long ago that demons only eat human foods for their own personal enjoyment. It’s not a necessity for a demon’s survival.

“What’s inside?” Sid asks anyway.

Evgeni shrugs. “A surprise. Don’t want to ruin it, do you?” he counters, teasing.

“No, but, I think accepting gifts from demons is typically the opposite of what humans should do. Will I owe you anything?” Sid knocks Evgeni’s hand away from the food. The demon has been sampling all of Sid’s ingredients.

“Never,” Evgeni says, sounding oddly somber. “Not unless you want to.”

“I can’t give you my soul,” Sid says quickly, not that he thinks Evgeni would ever ask for it. It’s just that Kris feels strangely about Sid’s relationship with Evgeni.

Kris isn’t as convinced that Evgeni is hanging around Sid for the best of reasons.

“You give me Tootsie’s soul?” Evgeni asks, gesturing offhandedly to the dorm’s hamster sleeping in its cage.

Naming the hamster Tootsie was their third roommate’s idea.

“What do you even do with the souls after you get them?” Sid changes the subject as he hears the apartment door lock click open. They should be more careful about what they discuss in the open but Jamie is a philosophy major. He’d probably be into it.

“Souls have different purposes. Strength, knowledge, power. It’s mostly to make sure that the debt is paid,” Evgeni explains. “It’s not often I get summoned. Bigger, older, more powerful demons have more use for souls.”

Jamie looks exhausted when he walks inside. Despite both his earphones in his ears, Sid can hear the music blaring on the other side. He waves to Sid and Evgeni, then goes to his room without stopping to talk.

“When will you tell me how old  _ you _ are?” Sid asks, handing Evgeni a knife and carrots that need peeling.

“Old enough to tell you that your ancestors didn’t travel across the world for spices to not use them,” Evgeni says, poking through the sparse collection of spices in their kitchen for salt and pepper. “You might want to use.”

“You cook then.” Sid frowns a bit lopsided and halfhearted.

It’s maddenly frustrating that Evgeni does. He hip checks Sid playfully to the side, sidelining him in his own kitchen. The tofu goes back into the refrigerator for another meal and adds a second helping of meat instead.

 

*

 

Kris sets up a double date to take Sidney’s mind off Evgeni. Sid feels apprehensive about it until Sid realizes that Kris thought things through. He picked a guy that is so blatantly Sid’s type that he does a silent doubletake, wondering how obvious he’s been in the past with the guys he’s dated. If only he could go through the date without Kris and Cath sparing glances at him to see how things are going.

BIg and tall, sweet, and athletic is every guy Sid has crushed on from afar and Kris knows it. While Sid wouldn’t count those qualities as the only ones he looks for in a partner, it certainly doesn’t hurt in catching his eye.

While Luka is dreamboat, he’s lacking the same lazy posture and warm speech Sid has gotten used to sitting across from at dinner.

He still gives Luka is number anyway much to Cath’s excitement. Luka is intelligent, pre-med to one day become a sports psychologist, and more than willing to offer Sid assistance with his own exercise science degree.

The little jewelry box is smaller when Sid gets home, only he doesn’t really notice. The change isn’t significant enough.

 

*

 

The kinesiology midterm Sid had been stressing about for the past week results in a surprising success. The relief in instant, knowing that he has one exam result down, four more to go.

He wants to tell Evgeni but he can’t. Because Evgeni stopped showing up for his usual visits the moment Sid started studying. Moreso, around the time Kris decided to take him out on a double date.

The next time he goes out for groceries, he buys a pack of chalk and salt, intending on drawing Evgeni out himself when the demon finally decides to make his reappearance.

“Did I do something?” Sid blurts out, feeling hurt.

In a strange way, with a strange beginning, they were becoming friends, he felt.

“No,” Evgeni admits quietly.

“Then why did you suddenly stop coming? I miss you. Even if it’s easier to concentrate in Professor White’s class without you there,” Sid tries to joke.

“Me and mama think it’s better if you spend more time with human friends. Kris and Flower,” Evgeni says. “Luka,” he adds with a bitter twist.

Sid frowns. “What about Luka?”

“Nothing. Luka seem like nice, normal boy.” Evgeni doesn’t bother to keep up his usual effort to glamor his appearance as he usually does. Sid thinks Evgeni’s horns look larger than usual. His whole appearance is less humanlike than Evgeni lets Sid see.

“Luka is just a friend. Kris set it up,” Sid says.

Sparks twinkle at Evgeni’s fingertips. Blue and yellow. Evgeni isn’t usually this distant.

“Was he nice? Did he pay for your meal? Pull out your chair?” Evgeni questions rapid-fire.

“Why does it matter?” Sid counters. He didn’t feel it with Luka, a spark. “I don’t think I’m going to see him again anyway.”

“Why not?” Evgeni asks, voice becoming soft.

Sid avoids looking at Evgeni, his legs curled close to his chest. Sid insisted sitting on the bed with Evgeni although they both barely fit. “He was just okay. I guess I just wanted more than that.”

 

*

 

A week later, Evgeni tells Sid the truth.

“I’m think Kris important to you and I make Kris uncomfortable so Luka could make Kris more comfortable.” Evgeni chooses to look smaller today, sipping away at the smoothie Sid bought him guiltily.

“You were Luka,” Sid asks to confirm.

Evgeni nods. “I thought you’d like.”

“I do. I like you.”

Evgeni smiles, and for the first time shows Sid that his real skin color is blue.

So maybe him and Evgeni have been friends for longer than Sid lets himself admit.

 

*

 

Kris looks somewhat relieved, if not a bit shocked at first, to catch Sid making out with Luka on the couch a day later.

He’s less thrilled to see Evgeni poking through their fridge for Sid’s special brand of almond milk.

 

*

 

After hearing back that another internship decided to go with another candidate, Sid goes back to his dorm to find a hellhound gnawing on a chew toy in the center of his bedroom.

“Don’t worry,” Evgeni says reassuringly, “Jeffrey sweet hellhound. He’s very calm, doesn’t bite unless I’m tell him.”

Sid smiles nervously regardless, reaching out for the dog that is even bigger than he is. Obediently, Jeffrey keeps still so Sid can pet his big head, his hind leg kicking as his tail thumps heavily against Sid’s bedpost.

“Feel better?” Evgeni asks, moving to stand behind Sid, wrapping his arms around Sid’s waist.

“Yeah,” Sid sighs heavily, leaning back against Evgeni’s chest.

The box on Sid’s dresser glows ever slightly as it becomes bigger. The Cyrillic inscriptions grow stronger.

 

*

 

Unsurprisingly, Evgeni’s mama doesn’t take too kindly to Sidney monopolizing so much of her son’s time. She doesn’t come to see him directly but Sid feels an extra presence lingering around him and later Evgeni confirms Sidney’s suspicions to be true.

“She not understand but she’ll come around, just like how Anna gave Sergei voice in exchange for his child,” Evgeni says, hopeful as he cups Sid’s face in his hands and kisses his forehead.

“How could he give up his child?” Sid asks, feeling the two aren’t one in the same.

Evgeni smiles. “He do for love. They raise the baby together with that love.”

“Then why the price? If they were going to raise the baby together, why did he need to give her the child first?”

“Anna needed contract. We can’t just do as we please. We self-regulate like mortals do. She give up piece of herself to give to him, to give him voice. Is like equivalent exchange.” Evgeni hugs Sid closer, carding his fingers through Sid’s hair.

Sid wraps his arms around Evgeni’s waist, feeling the demon’s too-hot body through his clothes. He thinks he understands, even if he doesn’t like it.

“I don’t want to think about Anna and Sergei,” Evgeni says much like he’s reading Sid’s mind. “Let’s think about other things.”

Careful is the way Evgeni always begins to kiss Sid. Always slow and a touch hesitant, like he’s asking for permission. Sid is very much the opposite. Demanding and clawing for more closeness, like he can’t stand the mere thought of being apart. Sid sucks on Evgeni’s bottom lip, tugging with his teeth, as he tries to move them backwards toward the bed.

Sid enjoys being on top, having the power to grind his hips down, and rut against Evgeni until he can feel the demon hard against his thigh. It’s great because Evgeni likes to grab at Sid’s ass, squeezing, and pulling Sid down against him.

Evgeni loves the way he can put his hands behind his head and watch Sid tug his shirt over his head. The little strip tease is perfect in a way that Evgeni will replay this moment over again and again in his head. That patience doesn’t extend to when all their clothes are gone. Evgeni gets a bit lost in the moment, wanting to kiss every part of Sid’s bare skin, trapping Sid’s body against his tight against the mattress.

There are plenty of marks littered all around Sid’s neck the next day that Kris teases Sidney about fondly. Nobody told him that Luka was such a possessive bastard.

It becomes their little secret.

 

*

 

Sid slips to Flower that he’s been seeing Evgeni when he should have been using Luka’s name.

“So you’re dating two guys at once?” Flower asks, non judgemental, but confused. “I didn’t think you had it in you.”

“I’m not. I’m only dating Evgeni,” Sid tries to clarify. He can’t exactly tell his best friend that Evgeni is a demon. Kris knows, but that’s only because they were together when Sid summoned him. “Kris only thinks I’m dating Luka.”

“Do I want to know why you’re hiding that from him?”

Sidney pauses, taking his time to respond a slow, “No.”

“How dramatic is he going to be about it when he finds out, on a scale of one to 10?”

“Eleven.”

Flower laughs, nodding in compliance. “Your secret is safe with me. But I want to be there when Kris finally finds out the truth.”

 

*

 

Even though Sid can’t read it, he lets Evgeni mark him carefully in black ink a single Cyrillic word. It glows faintly around the edges before setting into his skin, like a painless tattoo. For protection, Evgeni calls it, despite Sid not knowing what he might need protection from.

The mark makes Sidney’s whole body feel warm and tingly. He shivers in Evgeni’s hold and kisses him when Evgeni rubs his arms to make the goosebumps go away.

Kris ends up pointing out the mark as they’re studying over lunch. He knows without saying who the mark came from.

“I thought Evgeni stopped coming around,” Kris says, dragging his eyes along the slope of Sid’s neck. There’s at least three hickies there that he knows of. Evgeni really enjoys marking him up, only Kris thinks the hickies are from Luka.

Sid slides his sleeve over the mark. A strange part of him wanted Kris to see it. He liked other people seeing it too. It looks like a normal tattoo but he knows where it came from. While the exact meaning is unknown to him, he feels as though he knows what it stands for.

“You only assumed he did,” Sid answers. “He never stopped, even when Luka came around.”

“Luka,” Kris echos thoughtfully. “Do you — Sid, Evgeni is Luka. But … you knew that already.”

“Evgeni is harmless. I get why you might think he’s dangerous but he’s not. He’s a really good guy.” Sid defends.

“ _ Guy _ ? He’s not even human. He’s a  _ demon _ . We didn’t even think they existed at the beginning of the semester. What if he’s slowly sucking out your soul?” Kris leans across the table, whispering low since they’re in the middle of the library.

“Evgeni wouldn’t do that,” Sid says wholeheartedly. On his wrist, the tattoo glows on his skin. It doesn’t show through the black cotton material.

Kris looks at Sid carefully. “I won’t be able to change your mind? There’s probably, like, ten thousand guys on this campus and you found the one that isn’t actually a person.”

“I know, but just try to get to know him. You’ll like him.” Sid encourages.

Evgeni really isn’t  _ that _ different. Sure, he has a few physical differences. Sid can look past those. He usually does, since Evgeni tries to hide his natural form. He knows strongly that he should be more afraid of Evgeni and what he can do. What he probably has done. But Evgeni has been nothing but a steady presence to anchor him.

The most unlikely of friends.

“As long as you know what you’re doing,” Kris say unconvincingly.

 

*

 

A man follows Sid to class for three days straight before Sid realizes it’s no longer a coincidence and more like a pattern. Sid thinks that the stranger could at least pretend to be subtle about it. Not that Evgeni ever was and Sid let Evgeni follow him around just fine before.

It continues until Evgeni notices. He pauses mid-sentence while explaining the art behind a tasteful sacrifice altar when he sees the stranger.

“Sasha,” he sighs, then stomps off to grab the other man by the ear, dragging him back to the table where he left Sid sitting confused.

“You know him?” Sid asks carefully.

“I do,” Evgeni confirms. “I’m thought Sasha was smarter than to follow me.”

“I just wanted to see,” Sasha says apologetically. His horns appear more curved and his ears are pointed, twitching as Evgeni scolds him. “You been keeping human to yourself and I was curious. He’s so small and cute, Zhenya. You should share.”

Evgeni’s lip curls. “No,” he replies forcefully. “You don’t need Sid. You have Nicky.”

“But Nephilim travel so much, trying to find the troublemakers. Nicky never have time for me,” Sasha complains.

“That’s why you don’t bond with Nephilim,” Evgeni says.

Sasha laughs, replying in a sing-song tone of voice, “Pot calling kettle.”

Using his strength he rarely shows Sidney, Evgeni pushes Sasha away with one palm to the other’s face, sending his friend staggering backwards on his feet until he falls onto the ground. “I’m sorry. Not know Sasha going to bother you. We ditch him now, have more private time later?” Evgeni asks, sitting back down across from Sid, putting his hand over Sid’s.

Sid thinks he sees claws but then they’re gone. Sid is never allowed to look at Evgeni’s real form for too long.

“Yeah,” Sid agrees, his cheeks flushed.

Sasha whistles low and long. “Have nice time! Tell me later!”

Evgeni shakes his head, trying to apologize to Sid when he doesn’t really have to.

“It’s fine,” Sid says. “I’m just glad that it wasn’t someone stalking me. I was starting to get worried that I was being followed around.”

“You won’t,” Evgeni reassures. His hand grabs Sid’s wrist briefly, his thumb brushing over the mark he left there, then settles by intertwining their fingers. “If you worry, you tell me.”

Sid agrees. He thinks he feels something inside him get stronger.

 

**THREE ⟴**

Evgeni has Sid meet him outside in the cold while everyone else should be sleeping. His whole appearance is one that he shows Sid rarely. His form is at full stature, his horns out, as well as his blue skin, and long sweeping tail. He looks like the typical image of how humans depict demons, minus the hooves.

Still, he looks familiar and comforting to Sidney.

Evgeni even opens his arms for a short embrace, letting Sid in close before pushing him away at arm’s length.

“For a little while, I’m have to go away. Lay low to keep others far away. Some old friends get bad ideas. I do this to keep you safe,” Evgeni says sadly.

“How long is a little while? Will you be okay?” Sid asks, not letting go as Evgeni tries to pull away.

“I’m be fine, just convince them little while that we’re done here. I’ll come back as soon as I can.” Evgeni promises Sid sweetly, kissing him when he thinks Sid is about to protest. He thinks of how much better it would be for the both of them if he stayed away in the first place but he doesn’t regret it. 

No one will be able to change that. 

Not his mama (she gave up long ago). 

Not his friends (they might still try to warn him). 

Not his enemies (he won’t give them the chance).

 

**FOUR ⟴**

Even demons have messengers.

Sometimes, Sid hears from Evgeni, but communication becomes rare. He writes letters everyday that he’s unable to send. Some letters short, others pages long. Mostly things about his day, things that he would think Evgeni would find funny.

He doesn’t live in a dorm anymore. Sid gets an apartment with Flower and Kris, just like they planned at the start of the new fall semester. It turns out that he might be graduating early, after all. Likewise, his studies are going great. He even took up European history even though he didn’t need it, just to see what he could learn about Evgeni’s culture.

On the days Ilya comes around he’ll take Sid’s letters. Ilya says Evgeni will get them, although Evgeni never writes back so Sid can’t be sure the demon is telling the truth. There’s no reason for Ilya to lie to Sidney but he starts to give up hope of getting a letter in return.

He normally chooses to ignore that feeling.

Sid writes less frequently instead. Evgeni promised —  _ promised _ he would see Sidney again.

 

*

 

Dixie becomes a staple in Sid’s life in Evgeni’s absence.

She’s a beautiful black cat with a penchant for lingering outside of Sid’s building. Her brown eyes always followed him carefully whenever she saw him. For a while he thought she was living outside his building because she had kittens but that proved to be untrue when he saw her chase off another cat from her territory.

Dixie doesn’t live in the apartment since she’s still an outside cat but she’s grown on Sid quite well. She was intelligent enough to climb into his car and patient enough to allow the vet to chip her. She likes to monopolize Sid’s time, rubbing all along his legs, mewling for attention.

Flower and Kris are more dog people although they don’t say much about Sid’s new friend. The cat, after all, doesn’t really stay in their apartment and most of the time Dixie fends for herself.

Sid is somewhat grateful for Dixie. He was afraid of black cats otherwise. Dixie he likes.

“You want try one?” he asks her while making his lunch. Dixie has odd taste for a cat. She’ll eat almost anything Sid offers her.

Carefully, she sniffs his fingers, and deeming the olive suitable, she snags the treat and runs off with it into the living room. The rest of the ingredients for his salad Sid keeps to himself.

“What do you think is on today?” Sid asks, following out into the living room. The apartment luckily came with the TV, but unfortunately, few channels. “Another  _ Criminal Minds _ marathon seems good.”

Dixie purrs, kneading her claws into Sid’s lap as she climbs on top of him to get comfortable.

 

*

 

Ilya appears more frazzled than usual the next time Sid sees him.

“I can take you to him,” Ilya says. “We have an hour.”

Sid has never seen how Ilya comes or goes up until this point. The man draws a large circle with intricate patterns onto Sid’s wall with chalk. When the drawing is complete, the lines glow a fluorescent blue. It’s somewhat mesmerizing.

“Bring that,” Ilya instructs belatedly, pointing to the box Evgeni had gifted Sid some long time ago.

The box, when Sidney picks it up, feels heavier than usual. It still fits in his hands just like it did before when Sid moved apartments. He still doesn’t know what’s in it nor has anyone Sid has tried to ask ever answer what the box is for. Ilya and Sasha have been extremely tight lipped. The secret makes Sid want to find out even more but no library has what he needs.

Stepping forward into the circle is oddly warm and bright all over. Naturally, Sid squints and by the time his foot hits the ground again, he’s already on the other side of his destination.

Ilya continues to push him forward while Sid tries to take in all his surroundings.

The alleyway is all brick and cobblestone. There’s just enough light where he can see the tops of signs on the buildings and not much else.

“In here,” Ilya directs.

The door Ilya pushes open is hidden. A similar glowing circle appears underneath his palm as Ilya presses it against the wall and a door swings open.

Sid feels like he’s walked into a fantasy land. Most of those around him could pass for human if he wasn’t as on high alert. He tries not to stare too much. They get glances their way because of their entrance but it’s only a fleeting glance. Ilya and Sidney don’t keep their attention for long.

Sitting in the corner of the restaurant in the purest form Sid has seen him is Evgeni, seemingly alone but chatting anyway. As they walk closer, Sid realizes there’s a smaller creature on the table picking away at Evgeni’s meal. It scuttles away when Evgeni catches sight of them.

“Geno,” Sid says, sounding so human but unfamiliar. He hasn’t been able to say it for some time but it’s obvious that Evgeni hasn’t forgotten the nickname with the way he looks up immediately.

“Sid,” Evgeni replies happily, standing to welcome Sidney into the circle of this arms. “I’m sorry I take so long,” he apologizes.

“What happened?” Sid has to ask.

Ilya crosses his arms, shaking his head.

“Sorry,” Evgeni says again. “I can’t. I can give other answers. Like, what we do now. It take long time but I have permission to have you here.”

“Did you ever get my letters?” Sid asks instead, allowing Evgeni to guide him to sit.

“I did,” Evgeni confirms. “I wanted to write back but mama told Nicky I was up to no good. I couldn’t write back without Nicky tracking them.”

“Don’t worry,” Ilya adds offhandedly for Sid’s sake, “I had no desire to read your love poems.”

The way Sid’s face heats up is enough to tell that his outright denial may be hiding something else. He does so, regardless, in his own embarrassment. “They weren’t love poems.”

“They were sweet. I’m kept all of them.” Evgeni says.

“So can you come back now?” Sidney wants to know. He’s been waiting and hoping that at the very least Evgeni would be able to return.

“I can, under condition I give the Palekh box back to mama for safekeeping. You bring it?” Evgeni asks. Underneath the table, Evgeni stretches his legs out to continue touching Sid. Not even his hands will leave Sidney’s where they’re placed on the table.

“Is that’s what it’s called?” Sid slips his hands away just long enough to go into his jacket pocket. He was surprised the box fit but just like Evgeni, the box clearly wasn’t made by humans. Something about it was supernatural as well. For how small it is, it’s heavy but it makes no sound indicating that when Sid places it on the table between them. “Will you tell me what it’s for now?”

Evgeni pauses, thinking very carefully. “I’m not human,” he says, as if Sid needed that reminder. Sid has known the whole time. “Mama made Palekh box when I was born. We use them to keep the life force that allows us to live hundreds of years. I give you my box, I give you part of my life. Lots of friends think I get ahead of myself, want to keep me away from you to be sure. I tell them that I’m sure so we compromise. I give mama the box back and we can be together.”

“You were going to give up part of your life for me?” Sid asks, a bit breathlessly. 

“I already live few thousand years. I have box from my grandparents and their grandparents passed down. We can be immortal but we can choose not to be.” Evgeni reaches to hold Sid’s hands, wary of his clawed fingers. “Eternity is long time to be alone.”

“But you’re not alone. You have your family,” Sid says. He thinks his hands are shaking a little. It’s hard to tell with how tightly Evgeni is holding them. “You have me.”

Evgeni exhales heavily, letting out a laugh. His shoulders slump in relief from their tight positions. “And you me, as long as you have me.”

**Author's Note:**

> (Dixie may or may not be a familiar.)


End file.
